Minor Prophets Survey
Notes
Transcript
Handout
For our learning
For our learning
The Old Testament was written, preserved and purposed.
Written for our learning, comfort and hope (Rom15:4)
4 For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.
Written for our admonition (1Cor10:11)
11 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
Note: written preserved, protected, and purposed so we can learn from their examples of things to do, and not to do.
Written for it is profitable (2Tim3:14-17)
14 You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15 and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
Note: Let this sink in, what scripture is Paul talking about to Timothy? - the O.T. (expand)
The Minor Prophets while minor in writings (quantity) is not minor in (quality or content). These 12 books are vital and make up the final books, in order, in the O.T.
God had several different kinds of communicators.
Moses the lawgiver
The priests, administrators of the law
The wise men who gave counsel
We can’t forget the Psalmists
And the prophets who were the communicators of God’s Word
A prophet is easily defined as a spokesman for another, in this case a spokesmen for God. The spokesmen for God operated under the power of the Holy Spirit. The prophet was as much as a forth-teller as well as a fore-teller. Many of the words given through the prophets by the Holy Spirit from God were of future events (fore-telling) and have been fulfilled.
Prophets were classified as oratory or literary and sub-category as major and minor prophets
Somethings to be reminded of since it is has been months since we have been here in this survey of the minor prophets:
We are doing this study to
To understand the political, social and religious conditions of the times in which they were writing as well as to who they are writing.
To see the holiness, the sovereignty of God and the immutability of God’s word and the terribleness of sin, and to look at repentance and righteousness
And finally the worship and glory that is due to God.
(Transtion) so there are some reminders in setting up our study, now I want to touch on the prophets we have previously looked at, in general.
Obadiah
Obadiah
A brief reminder of the setting, history of the times.
Obadiah means “Servant of Yahweh”
Date: most common belief is 845 B.C.
Subject: Judgment on Edom
Outline
Coming judgment (vv1-9)
Reason for judgment (vv.10-16)
Exaltation of Israel over Edom (vv.17-21)
Lessons learned
Pride comes before the fall, destruction (Pro16:18)
18 Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling.
God will punish arrogance (Isa13:9-11)
9 Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, Cruel, with fury and burning anger, To make the land a desolation; And He will exterminate its sinners from it. 10 For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not flash forth their light; The sun will be dark when it rises And the moon will not shed its light.
11 Thus I will punish the world for its evil And the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud And abase the haughtiness of the ruthless.
Be careful how you treat your brethren (1Cor8:12)
12 And so, by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.
Don’t rejoice over others failures, even your enemies (Pro24:17-18)
17 Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; 18 Or the Lord will see it and be displeased, And turn His anger away from him.
God will always provide a way of escape to those who turn to Him (Heb12:22-24)
22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, 23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,
24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.
(Transition) these are being offered up as reminders only. If you were not here when we did these months ago on Sunday evenings let me know and can provide you outlines or even sermon notes. So pressing on to the next one we looked at.
Joel
Joel
Many may know Joel as quoted by Peter on Pentecost, but there is so much more to this prophet that we looked at.
Joel name means “Jehovah is God”
Date: Common belief is 830 B.C.
Subject: Judgment on the land, symbolic of the judgment on the people.
Outline of book
Land is laid waste (1:1-12)
A plea cried out to God (1:13-20)
Coming day of the Lord (2:1-11)
Call to repentance (2:12-17)
The Lords promise (2:18-20)
Call to courage and gladness (2:21-24)
The Lords Assurance (2:25-27)
What shall comes to pass afterward (2:28-29)
What shall come in those days (3:1-17)
What shall come in that day (3:18-21)
Lessons from Joel
There is value in natural calamities (Amo4:6-12, Job1:6-19, 20-22)
Natural calamities can be used to turn people back to God.
6 “But I gave you also cleanness of teeth in all your cities And lack of bread in all your places, Yet you have not returned to Me,” declares the Lord. 7 “Furthermore, I withheld the rain from you While there were still three months until harvest. Then I would send rain on one city And on another city I would not send rain; One part would be rained on, While the part not rained on would dry up.
8 “So two or three cities would stagger to another city to drink water, But would not be satisfied; Yet you have not returned to Me,” declares the Lord. 9 “I smote you with scorching wind and mildew; And the caterpillar was devouring Your many gardens and vineyards, fig trees and olive trees; Yet you have not returned to Me,” declares the Lord.
10 “I sent a plague among you after the manner of Egypt; I slew your young men by the sword along with your captured horses, And I made the stench of your camp rise up in your nostrils; Yet you have not returned to Me,” declares the Lord. 11 “I overthrew you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, And you were like a firebrand snatched from a blaze; Yet you have not returned to Me,” declares the Lord.
12 “Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; Because I will do this to you, Prepare to meet your God, O Israel.”
I thought it was important to bring in the passage
Not all calamities come from God, some come from Satan as allowed by God as is the case with Job.
The nature of true repentance (2:12-13)
It must be with your heart, all your heart
It is an internal not an external thing, though it can be seen externally.
The nature of God (Ps103:8-14; Jer18:7-8)
That God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, hold on, wait, I should give you scripture.
8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. 9 He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever.
10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.
12 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. 13 Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.
14 For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.
Also that God relents when we repent (see Jer18:7-8)
The day of the Lord can be averted (Isa13:1-13, Joel2:1-11; Jer18:7-8)
the day of the Lord is a day, time, season of judgment and many times it can be averted if there is repentance.
Some of these day of the Lord events describe end of time judgments on nations, people (i.e. Babylon, Nineveh)
The day of the Lord seems to be averted in Joel’s day when you look at the later part of the book (2:13-23)
(Transition) Again there is so much more to glean from the books we looked at previously in the survey and maybe one day we will do an exegetical look at each book, until then the next book we looked at was:
Jonah
Jonah
Oh most of us know the history of Jonah the reluctant prophet who tried to run from God. But there was more that we looked at when we survey Jonah.
Jonah name means “dove”
Date: Generally believed on or about 780 B.C.
Subject: To use Jonah as a look at history, of a man, a nation and God.
Outline of the book
Running from God (1:1-17)
Running to God (2:1-10)
Running with God (3:1-10)
Running ahead of God (4:1-11)
Lessons from Jonah
National sin calls for national repentance
God is concerned about man, the person, but is also concerned about the nations, the heathen nations not just Israel but all nations.
Just as we know today our country needs to repent of some of it’s national sins (abortion, acceptance of things contrary to the scripture)
You cannot run away from God(Ps139:7-11)
God can, will use incidents in the lives of his servants, even reluctant ones, for his purpose and glory as exampled here in Jonah and can see in:
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, 10 Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,”
Sometimes we go to the depths to gain life among the living, also prayers in times of need, need to be with thanksgiving as well as with petition (Php4:6)
Homer Hailey a scholar, and commentator said it like this regarding Jonah and application. “Someone has observed that there are times when we must be made to go into the lowest depths that we may regain a living faith.”
When in need and we are praying in supplication (prayers of need) we need to lace with thanksgiving because of who God is and what God has always done. (check out Php4:6)
Preaching of condemnation is oftentimes conditional
Conditional on the heart of the condemned.
Repentance can lead to reconciliation and restoration or conversion as is the case here with Nineveh
Consider this passage
7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord And whose trust is the Lord. 8 “For he will be like a tree planted by the water, That extends its roots by a stream And will not fear when the heat comes; But its leaves will be green, And it will not be anxious in a year of drought Nor cease to yield fruit.
9 “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? 10 “I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds.
The most unlikely prospects for conversion might be the ones who are converted (1Cor6:9-11)
I’m sure you know Paul, about his conversion. (expand, friends, enemies) and then look at
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.
11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
Fasting and prayer have a place when petitioning God (Ezr8:21-23)
21 Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from Him a safe journey for us, our little ones, and all our possessions.
22 For I was ashamed to request from the king troops and horsemen to protect us from the enemy on the way, because we had said to the king, “The hand of our God is favorably disposed to all those who seek Him, but His power and His anger are against all those who forsake Him.”
23 So we fasted and sought our God concerning this matter, and He listened to our entreaty.
In chapter 3 you see that the people believed the preaching of Jonah and they proclaimed a fast. Just as you see here in Ezra!
(Transition) Jonah’s mission was mission success. A nation that was condemned was now saved, but still Jonah was not happy and in chapter 4 he got ahead of God, but we can still learn some from that chapter too.
Don’t have a sectarian Spirit
God is the God of all, God’s desire is that all nations be blessed, all men come to repentance through knowledge of God, don’t think God is just your God, don’t have a sectarian, partial spirit or look at things for God is the God of impartiality.
Don’t miss out on God’s nature, He is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, abundant in lovingkindness. He is willing to relent when there is repentance.
Some final observations from Jonah, the value and a quick into to Amos and we will call it all good.
Value of Jonah to the preachers:
Don’t judge the audience. Don’t miss God’s calling on you and where He has you. Take responsibility and don’t run away.
Value of Jonah to all Christians
Don’t have a sectarian, narrow minded spirit, way about you. God wants all to be saved. Be concerned about the souls of all men, not just men who look or act like you.
Value of Jonah to sinners.
God loves you regardless of your person or nation, He is concerned about your soul and will relent if you repent.
Jesus references the conversion of Nineveh and uses them as an example.
41 “The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
Nineveh repented, God relented at the reluctant preaching of Jonah. So, don’t give up, keep on keeping on, pressing on and sharing the truth with others as you walk in the truth of His Word.
I know I did not get to Amos at all, if you want to be prepared, read Amos chapters 1-2 for our next study in two weeks for I will be on staycation next week and not preaching.
(Prayer) (Exit)